------------------------------------------------ When you gonna realize,
that you don't even have to try any longer?Do what you want to.¹------------------------------------------------

It is a
truth universally acknowledged that the best advertisement is of the viral
kind, and that's what could have brought Will Darcy and Lizzy Bennett together
some ten years before they actually met.

John
Dashwood was an English dentist that always had a dream of visiting Brazil so,
after saving money for some years; he traveled to Rio de Janeiro for the best
vacation of his life. He toured the city enjoying the clubs and samba school
parties, where he met and fell for a very good looking guy. This guy, Bira,
showed him the best of Rio de Janeiro – city and state – traveling the many
beach cities and mountain retreats, but what took the Englishman´s breath away
was a small village almost reaching the state border: Trindade.

Trindade
was a small village, part of the colonial city of Paraty´s county, and a
paradise for ecologists and surfers. Its´ absolutely amazing beaches,
cross-country trails and waterfalls made Trindade the ultimate rustic retreat
of Rio de Janeiro state.

Dashwood
fell for the village as soon as he stepped out of the uncomfortable five hour
ride that brought him from Rio de Janeiro city, and he spread the word as soon
as he arrived back in Europe, a month later. His friends and friends of his
friends visited and liked, posted on the new born Facebook and Twitter, and
eventually a huge web of positive spontaneous marketing was formed. One of
these friends – Gerard, from France - found a lover at Trindade that turned
into his husband, and they opened a cafe. That cafe was so successful that a
t-shirt store was added to it when their friend, the previous owner of the
faded book store next door, dear old Miss Jane died.

The
cafe-store was then established as an international tourists´ spot at Trindade,
it was common to hear several languages spoken there simultaneously. Trinity
Babel - as the café was named - was a cool place to be, with hanging lamps
and cute little tables placed close together. There, Gerard and his husband
Diego offered help of (almost) any kind: food, Brazilian clothing, exchange,
Internet, phone calls, directions, counseling, shelter, an international home
far from home, and an overall safe atmosphere that enabled mingling.

Trinity
Babel was the talk of the internet that season´, anyone that had access to
internet and called him/herself popular had heard of the place. As on the first
years, the huge social networks were merely on-growing sites spread amongst
college kids; both Lizzy and Darcy heard of it and decided to spend New Year´s
there to celebrate the beginning of a new period of their lives.

Lizzy –
19 years old Elizabeth Bennett – had just started Yale University as she always
wanted since her late grandfather first told her his school years’ stories.
Although close to her home at the small town of Meryton - Massachusetts, the
famous college at New Haven- Connecticut was distant enough from her control
freak mother, beloved father and dear kid sister. Lizzy decided to study
finances, to the astonishment of the family of middle class scholars that were
proud of being able to collect enough money to pay tuition.

Will –
25 years old William Darcy, Son – was on the verge of moving from Seattle – Washington
to England for his MBAs at the ancient Cambridge University, following his
father´s footsteps. As the natural heir of his family´s company – Darcy Inc. –
he was supposed to get educated before being charged with more than the
presidency internship he usually did during school breaks. His younger brother
Richard was also expected to join the company, but he still had some years of
Harvard to fulfill.

Even
though both Lizzy and Will heard of Trindade and the Trinity Babel, they
never heard about each other. And why would they? A beautiful curvaceous witty
middle class girl from the East Coast and a charming tall lean taciturn rich
male heir from the West Coast were as different from each other as water and
oil. But it´s also a truth universally acknowledged, as well as feared, that
fate has its twisted ways to dispose of our lives.

Lizzy
joined her longtime friends Charleston Longborn and Dennise Lucas on this crazy
dream of visiting a tropical paradise in the heart of South America. They saved
for a long while, doing part time jobs and asking family members for Christmas
gifts in cash. Now they were happily installed in a single tent on the cozy
camping site near Main Street at Trindade for a day already, and they loved
every minute. From the coach seats side by side on the ten hour flight from
Boston to Rio, to the busy bus station and the chaotic bus ride facing the
crazy holiday´s traffic, to the magnificent scenery that the road provided from
the Nuclear Power Plant, until they finally arrived at the village.

At the
camping they met Argentineans, Swedish, Brazilians from other states and even
an Indian couple, and it all added to their delight. They agreed that every
tour possible should be accomplished and every mingling done. But, the first
night they went to bed early in spite of the party they were invited for: Forro Universitário. They were told at the Babel that it was a
picturesque rhythm, very fluid and danceable, impossible to resist. It was
expected to be a merry assembly that united the locals and the tourists – both
Brazilian and foreigners, but they could not keep themselves awake past ten pm
much to their chagrin: it was only nine pm on the East Coast.

Their
second day started as soon as they woke up and had some breakfast at the
crowded bakery. After a small orange juice, a grilled cheese and a coffee they
roamed Main Street and dove right to Middle beach. Five hours later they
concluded that they needed a more powerful sunscreen, Brazilian bikinis and
trunks and a nice shrimp and fish lunch.

After
lunch, as they were lounging on the Babel sidewalk, seated on the floor
surrounded by the marijuana breeze that came from the tattoo parlor next
door, Will arrived with his friends. The sight of the trio clad in shorts and
tank tops, seated on the sidewalk and bobbing their heads to the Rasta
song like turtles made him question again this decision of coming all the way
to Brazil. Not that Brazil was an unpleasant idea to him, it sounded great.
But, an ecologists´ retreat heard from social networks smelled conspicuously as
bullshit to him.

He let
himself be talked into this trip by his prep school friends Charles Bingley and
John J Thornton, III but not without questioning every single plan they made.
Thornton´s mother made them reservations on the pushiest resort on the area,
but unfortunately it was almost an hour away from the village. Mrs. Thornton,
the powerful lawyer, thought that her son and his friends – the Darcy boys, the
Bingley boy from the retail stores´ major chain, Julius De Bourgh – the heir of
a great pharmaceutical empire and the Brandon Real Estate son – Chris - needed
a safe place to stay if they wanted to go wild in South America. Had she known,
Mrs. Thornton would have made reservations for six rooms instead of five
because Jane Philips from the renowned Seattle Philips’s was coming with them,
as she and Charles Bingley had been inseparable since they started dating, a
year ago.

They
hated the resort when they arrived because it was just like every other resort
they had ever been to, so Will was charged with the task of breaking their
reservation and getting the resort travel agent to find them a place at the
village. After an hour of convincing, they were booked on the best bed &
breakfast at Trindade´s Main street, although only two rooms were available -
much to their horror. None of them had ever slept piled up before, not even in
school as they had single bedrooms on the dorm house apartments; and it was
clear that Jane and Bingley would keep a room for themselves. The guys would
have to share.

‘Either
that or we stay at the resort, guys. Let´s man up to it.’ Will said in a stern
face and a firm voice.

‘Well,
that would be very hard for me, Will…’ Jane teased from Bingley´s lap where she
was perched.

‘You
don´t have to man up to anything, my love. You are the sweetest, most
beautiful…’ Bingley went on as the guys groaned.

As soon
as the rented cars they drove – two deluxe sports jeeps – arrived at the end of
the stunning winding mountain road and found not only an absolutely marvelous
beach, but a river going over a gigantic rock that they would have to pass
over, they knew Trindade was the place to be. It was all very picturesque, even
the marijuana aroma coming from the tattoo shop next door to the famous Trinity Babel.

Will
thought the three pot heads seated on the floor were really beautiful people,
both the thin blond haired girl with long arms folded over her lap, and the thin
guy with the weird hairdo resembling a rapper´s. But who caught his eye was
neither Dennie nor Charlo. It was the brunette beauty with luscious curves and
wavy long hair with red streaks, skin red enough to make him sure she was a
tourist as much as he was. It was a shame that she was mingled with such an
atmosphere, he thought. So, when Bingley commented on the many good looking
people, Will could not hold his tongue and in went his foot.

‘Good?
They look as good as a pot head can. Certainly I am in no mood to give
consequence to stoners.’

Lizzy
was busy doing nothing, just letting Bob Marley deepen her into vacation mood
when she heard the gorgeous guy say such a rude thing. She whipped her head to
the side and stared at this Greek god, tall, handsome, lean yet brawny,
dark hair and found… deep soulful eyes. It just didn´t make sense to her, this
guy looking so good, sporting these eyes and being such an ass!

Will
blushed furiously when he noticed that Lizzy heard him, and she blushed when he
held her stare and she noticed that he realized she heard him. She looked down
and then back to him, but he had already turned his back to her, heading for
the b&b across the street.

‘Guys’
she said to her friends, ‘have you heard what that ass said about us? Stoners…’
she repeated it like a curse, setting her mouth in a thin line.

They
laughed and changed subject, just as Bob Marley gave space to Gilberto
Gil in a beautiful rendition of ‘Woman no cry’ in Portuguese. Before the
Seattle guys could get back to Main street, the three Meryton friends were
called into the tattoo parlor: it was their turn.

Will
could not shake the discomfort of his faux pas being heard, especially since
the beautiful curvy brunette had such fine eyes and a marvelous mouth. He had
to apologize or vanish – whatever was easier. The fact that the only room
available for them had a bunker, a single and a double bed didn´t help his
humor at all.

When
they emerged from the b&b, now clad in shorts and t-shirts, the
three pot heads were nowhere to be found and all the bars and rustic
pubs were crowded, bursting with music and life. The Seattle guys loved the mix
of beautiful young people, warm weather and mostly Brazilian beer.

Leia meu artigo na LITERAUSTEN 2

PALESTRA Hot Rio Chick

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Quem sou eu

I´m a 30+ years old Brazilian architect who has found a soft spot for Pride and Prejudice's Mr Darcy. After years reading lovely stories about him and Lizzy I decided to try my hand writing and loved it. Now I just can´t stop.